First Impression: Lew's Mach II Speed Spool Combo

[Koz]

Until last year all of my fishing had been done on spinning gear when I decided to try out a baitcasting combo. I picked up a 6'6" MHF 7:1:1 Lew's American Hero combo that was on sale. For me it was a great starter as it was inexpensive but not cheap quality.

 

I bank fish only and that usually means I'm riding my bike from lagoon to lagoon within different residential communities - the kind where you can't just park you car on the road and go fishing nearby. So carrying multiple rods and having specialty rods is not my thing. I want a rod that's versatile enough to fish the tackle that I like to fish.

 

I looked at some separate reels and rods deciding what to package together. The main thing is that I wanted a smother, upgraded real and a 7 foot MHF rod. I also didn't want to break the bank. Now I'm sure that there are a ton of different combinations that are probably better than the Le's Mach II baitcasting combo that I picked out, but I figured that since I liked the inexpensive American Hero combo I'd probably like one of their upgraded combos as well.

 

Si I picked it up today and spooled it up with some 30ln hi-vis yellow Power Pro braid and headed out to some of my favorite lagoons. Most of what I catch there is in the 2-4 pound range and I've caught my fair share of 5-6 pounders there as well. I've also seen the pictures of 7-12 pounders caught in these lagoons.

 

The rubberized Winn grips are a bit different, especially the oversized grips on the crank, and while it felt odd at first they actually felt really comfortable after fishing for 90 minutes or so. I actually like them a lot.

 

Setting the braking is external only so I clicked it to about halfway to start, set the tension, and tossed a big ol' KVD spinnerbait with a Keitech trailer. Even with the brake set halfway it bombed out there a pretty good distance with a sidearm flip cast and it was smooooooooth off the reel. It was a really nice first impression.

 

Moving to the 7 foot rod from a 6'6" rod felt different as expected. I've thrown a 6'6" all my life and even fishing in close quarters around people and trees casting clearance is second nature. But with the added six inches I kept having to remind myself to look around first and make sure I didn't clank it off something. Accuracy was really good off the bat. It targeted as expected, even with the extra length.

 

But after 10 minutes or so in that lagoon it was time to leave. There's a super aggressive gator that lives there and he spotted me. Last time he came up the bank in front of me as I was packing up to avoid him. This time I got up the bank quick enough and he sat just on the shoreline. As I walked towards the next lagoon he actually followed me down the shoreline for 150 feet or so.

 

At the next lagoon I tossed an XRap and felt a strike, went to set the hook and a small bass popped into the air but on my lure - nothing. A miss on my part. I switched to a Whopper Plopper 110, felt another strike at the lure - and missed again. I'm no pro fisherman out there but when I get good strikes like that on treble hook baits I don't think I've ever missed two in a row like that.

 

So I go across the street to another lagoon and throw a big 8" Texas rigged worm. I feel tick-tick and then BAM! I set the hook and - nothing! The fish keeps going. Crap - I forgot to set the drag! Stupid move on my part. So the fish takes off and I'm trying to grab the drag knob. At the same time the fish makes a run towards me because without the drag set he has free reign to go wherever he wants. And of course he breaches, large mouth wide open. I could tell when he breached it was a good 4-5 pounds. It spit the hook and was gone. I should know better - this isn't the first time I forgot to set the drag on a new reel.

 

Anyway, with the drag set I got to some fishing again. I landed 3 that were in the 2-3 pound range, but they all hit right on shore so I didn't get to feel what the rod feels like during a fight. But from what I did feel, I'd say that the rod felt mushy. Maybe that's just from moving to the 7 foot length, but it didn't feel quite right. The sensitivity on the bite was definitely there, 30 lb braid is always my line of choice on a baitcaster, but something was off. If I had to guess it's probably the drag because I did have it cranked up. I'll have to experiment with it again tomorrow.

 

So, what's the verdict? I need some more time with it but I do like the reel as far as getting the brakes and tension dialed in quickly and the fact that the line feels really smooth coming off of the reel. It's really, really quiet and combined with the 7 foot rod length it gave me the extra distance I was looking for when bank fishing. The jury is still out on the drag setting getting dialed it. It might be a deal breaker.

 

The rod is lightweight and the sensitivity I was looking for seems to be there. But under load it felt kind of mushy, but that could also be because of the drag issue. One thing that I did notice is that with the extra length, the reel, or a combination of both of them I could land my Whopper Plopper 110 a lot softer than with my other rods, so that was a plus.

 

So far, so good - but I'm not a raving fan out of the box. Once I get the drag set to where I like it (if I can get it set to where I like it) I'll know if that was the issue or if I need to try out another rod for the Mach II reel. Stay tuned...

 

 

[Koz]

Day 2: I fished for 3 hours and I'm liking this combo less and less. I fully realize there's a chance that I have not adapted my technique to the longer rod, but I have my doubts.

 

We fished 4 lagoons that were new to us today and my son landed a nice largemouth just under 5 pounds. As for me, I lost every single fish. I'm not talking about getting a strike and missing it. I mean I had 4 on the line and lost every single one of them.

 

I get the strike, set the hook, but it seems like the 7 foot rod just doesn't load up like my 6'6" rod. Two of the fish breached despite my having the rod down. The last one really, really hurt. I felt a good hook set and the fish started to run. The rod starts to load and then slacks and the fish breaches. It was big. Easily 6-7 pounds.

 

After that I cranked the drag tight but didn't get a strike for the rest of the day.

 

I mentioned before that the rod felt mushy, so maybe with that extra length I'm not quite getting the hookset as strong as with the shorter rod. I feel like I'm setting the hook hard, but maybe with the extra length of the rod I need to go harder. I'm not tall to begin with, so maybe that's part of the equation as well.

 

Anyway, it was frustrating losing that big one today. I'm going to give it one more try tomorrow. I may also put the new reel on a 6'6" rod and see what happens. I like everything else about this combo except the fact that I've had trouble landing fish. In the past 24 hours I've lost more fish that I've had on the line than I have in the last year.

[ArticWolf]

Lol you should condense your posts into smaller ones imo, other than that I really enjoyed reading it. That is because I too got my first ever combo last year in a Mach Lews for 79.99 steal! It was a great first set up especially since they still sell the reels for 99.99 everywhere. So I upgraded to the Mach 2 and I love it. I’ve had it for a few months now and I use it for keitech fat swing impacts, t rigs and very light mini chatter baits by z man and crappie size spinner baits. I have the same one you do 7ft MH on a 7.5.1 reel. I use 15lb straight flouro on it only cuz it’s micro guides, and I turned the 7ft6 Mach slp combo mhf into my frogging rod for now with 50lb godline or powerpro. I’m currently upgrading my t rig set up and will be using the Mach 2 as a perfect all purpose rod (other than super heavy application stuff like frogging in lily pads) I’m gonna get either an Avid or Avid X St Croix, Shimano Zodias or Daiwa Tatula in 6ft 10 mhf or mXF cuz I’m shorter (5.9) and I bank fish mostly 

 

all in all the mach 2 for 169 is the best combo in history for that price new cuz most reel companies don’t bother combining stuff other than Lews and abu and even abu lets them throw a Berkley cherrywood on his cheap stuff

Oh yeah , I had issues at first with hook sets too on the combo but quickly realized that I needed to make sure first I reeled in all slack then set the hook and while setting the hook I needed to reel rather than setting hook and then lowering rod top and reeling. It helped a ton

 

 

Youll learn that the 7 feet actually helps you set hooks better but you don’t have to set hooks nearly as hard and the type of line means everything for each application or lure you use

 

[FishDewd]

I have a Lews mach II speed speed spin with an American Hero Speed Stick in 7' M/F rod that was separate from the reel, not a combo purchase, so I can't comment on yours. But mine's done great on some good size fish, particularly catfish. I caught my PB catfish, as well as a redfish, on this set up and it's by far the best money I've spent on a rod/reel set-up thus far. I've used it for topwater, floats rigs, and bottom rigging, and it's served me well.

[Koz]

Since my first week evaluating the combo I've been able to dial it it to my liking. And unlike the American Hero combo, with this one I've found it's best to be conservative with the tension and the brake settings.

 

I don't get big bird's nests with the reel, but I do get my fair share of the line overrunning itself and locking down the line - even with 50 pound braid. Probably my fault for getting too whippy with my casts.

 

Overall, I like the combo. But someday I'd like to compare it to a $200 reel and see the difference.